Tag Archives: Hologon

photography

Washington Union Station—Daily Post.

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May 2002, Hologon View.

It’s always fun to play with a new piece of equipment. I’d just bought a 16mm flat field Hologon super wide angle lens for my Contax G2 and I used this to make some dramatic photos inside Washington Union.

Washington D.C. Union Station as it appeared to me in May 2002. Exposed on Fujichrome slide film using a Contax G2 Rangefinder with 16mm Hologon lens.
Washington D.C. Union Station as it appeared to me in May 2002. Exposed on Fujichrome slide film using a Contax G2 Rangefinder with 16mm Hologon lens.

This lens is specially corrected to eliminate barrel distortion (commonly associated with super wide lens design) but it must be kept completely level to avoid perspective convergence to vertical lines in the image. A bubble-level is provided in the clip-on viewfinder to aid with the leveling process.

For this image, rather than make any effort to keep the camera level, I happily embraced the effect of perspective convergence to make for a dramatic image of Washington Union’s magnificent barrel-vault ceiling.

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Tomorrow: looking back at the end of an era!

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Daily Post: Visions of Omaha

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October 2002.

During a visit with John Gruber at the old Omaha Union Station, where we met with the late-Bill Kratville, I made a series of photographs with my Contax G2 on Fuji 100 Acros black & white film.

The station is an art deco gem and well suited to the tonality of black & white photography.

I worked with my 16mm Hologon and 45mm Zeiss Planar and processed the film in Dublin using my customized formula for Agfa Rodinal Special developer (not to be confused for the more common Agfa Rodinal).

Omaha, Nebraska.
Omaha Union Station, exposed with a Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with a 45mm Zeiss Planar lens. Fuji 100 Acros black & white negative film.
Omaha, Nebraska.
Exposed in October 2002 using a Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with a 16mm Hologon lens. Fuji 100 Acros black & white.
John Gruber and Bill Kratville inside the old Omaha Union Station. Exposed with a Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with a 45mm Zeiss Planar lens. Fuji 100 Acros black & white.
John Gruber and Bill Kratville inside the old Omaha Union Station. Exposed with a Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with a 16mm Hologon lens. Fuji 100 Acros black & white.

Recently, I scanned these negatives using my Epson V600 flatbed scanner, then scaled the image-files for presentation here.

Omaha Union Station, exposed using a Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with a 16mm Hologon lens. Fuji 100 Acros black & white.
Omaha Union Station, exposed using a Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with a 16mm Hologon lens. Fuji 100 Acros black & white.

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Tomorrow: snow and history at ‘Stateline’.

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SPECIAL CHRISTMAS MORNING POST: Heuston Station Dublin.

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Christmas Morning, Nine Years Ago.

 Dublin is a quiet place on Christmas morning. Almost everything is shut. The roads are relatively empty. The buses aren’t running. There are scant few people on the normally busy streets. And the railways are asleep.

Irish trains don’t run Christmas Day. And Dublin’s terminals are locked up tight. It’s a strange sight to see Heuston Station by daylight with nothing moving around it. This normally busy place is unnaturally quiet.

Dublin's Heuston Station
Heuston Station on Christmas morning 2004, exposed on Fujichrome using a Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with a 16mm Zeiss Hologon flat field lens. Exposure and focus were done manually.

Yet, what better time to make architectural views of the 1840s-built terminal?

There are no buses or LUAS trams to interfere with the station’s classic design. Cars are relatively few. You can stand in the middle the street to compose photos with little chance of being run over.

Dublin's Heuston Station.
One of the peculiarities of the 16mm Zeiss Hologon is its flat field. When kept at a level with the subject this prevents vertical line convergence, however when not level, verticals suffer from extreme convergence; yet the lens doesn’t suffer from barrel-distortion, a characteristic of many wide-angle lens designs. It can be used to make distinctive architectural views.

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Metro-North’s Westport Connecticut Drawbridge, November 2002.

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Metro-North Bridge 44.32.

Officially this known as Metro-North Bridge 44.32, this spans Saugatuck River an includes consists of a pair of parallel Scherzer rolling bascule lifts that date to about 1904–1905. I featured this bridge with a photo by Patrick Yough in my 2007 book Railroad Bridges published by Voyageur Press.
Officially known as Metro-North Bridge 44.32, this spans Saugatuck River and includes a pair of parallel Scherzer rolling bascule lifts built circa 1904–1905. I featured this bridge with a photo by Patrick Yough in my 2007 book Railroad Bridges published by Voyageur Press.

I made this unusual view of Metro-North’s former New Haven Railroad Westport Drawbridge using my Contax G2 rangefinder with a 16mm Hologon lens. When kept perfectly level this lens allows for non-converging perspective of vertical lines, however off-level it produces extreme vertical convergence.

The antique electrification on this movable span was an ideal subject to explore this lens’s peculiar perspective. My vantage point was from a public walkway easily accessed from the westbound platform MN’s Westport Station. I’d first photographed this drawbridge in November 1985 using my dad’s old Rollei Model T with black & white film. Bright sunlight and low fair-weather clouds add depth and contrast.

Working with Westinghouse, New Haven Railroad had pioneered high-voltage alternating current overhead electrification for mainline use in the early years of the 20th century.

 

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